Toddler Time
by Mystic Lover of the fairytale
Summary: An alien parasite turns Luke from a teenager to a toddler can Sarah Jane handle Luke as an actual toddler.
1. Chapter 1

# Little Luke # **A/N** *I own no one*

Sarah Jane set down a bowl and box of cereal in Luke's empty place at the table, frowning as she wondered what was taking him so long. She shot the kitchen clock a glance, and sighed wearily. It was nearly eight. Usually he was down by half past seven on the dot during the school week, but she supposed she shouldn't be surprised. As Luke delved further into his teenage years, his eagerness to please had dwindled. Sarah Jane had dealt with the odd sock left on the stairs (the other having inexplicably vanished), piles of assorted junk swept under the bed rather than being tidied away...it was stressful, to say the least, and a little sad. She missed his wide-eyed innocence. He wasn't a child anymore, and even looked different, more like a teen. He was taller, and Sarah Jane doubted she would ever forget the time Clyde bullied him into trying hair gel (it had been decided his hair was too 'neat') and Luke had wound up looking like an electrocuted hedgehog. At least that hadn't lasted.

"Luke!" she yelled, standing at the bottom of the stairs. No answer. "It's going on eight!" She waited, but there was still no reply. With another sigh, she headed up the stairs. Sleeping in was unlike him; he could stay up all night and not be tired the next day. Perhaps he was awake, just on his laptop.

Her annoyance growing, she knocked sharply on his door and entered the cave. She stomped accross the room and threw open the curtains, sunlight spilling into the darkness.

"I called you! For goodness sake, you're going to be late for-" Sarah Jane cut off abruptly with a barely stiffled shriek of shock. Because, when she turned to the bed, she hadn't seen the teenage boy that went to bed the night before. Instead, a toddler was blinking up at her with round, curious blue eyes, looking politely bemused.

"Oh..." Sarah Jane was frozen to the spot, at loss for words. The toddler squirmed, tangling itself in its hugely oversized pyjamas...Luke's pyjamas. What's more, now Sarah Jane looked, the toddler did have a resemblance to him. But it couldn't be...

Fighting back panic, she hurried forward and scooped the toddler up, then ran accross the landing to the attic.

"No, no, no, no...Mr Smith I need you!" As the computer appeared, she looked down into the face of the toddler. He smiled, then promply grabbed a fistful of her hair. Cute, she admitted to herself. However, she was definitely not able to deal with this.

"How may I help you, Sarah Jane?" Mr Smith asked cooly, while she struggled to disentangle her hair.

"I think..." The words sounded so ridiculous she almost felt stupid saying them. "I'm not sure, but I think Luke's been turned into a toddler."

There was a very long pause.

"Oh." Mr Smith's voice was surpised and slightly amused.

"Oh? OH?" Sarah Jane's voice rose to a hysterical pitch. "You need to say something more than 'oh'! Do a scan or look up information or something!" At her anger, the toddler wailed, and she shifted him onto her other hip while the computer obliged. When the light of the scanner had vanished, she had no time for patience.

"Well?" she asked shortly.

"According to my analysis Luke came into contact with an alien parasite the reduces age," Mr Smith explained. "The parasites are commonly used in a time of war to disable enemies-that is, lower their age to a point that they are no longer a threat. A stray parasite must have made its way to Earth."

"Can it be reversed?" Sarah Jane asked desperately.

"As far as I am aware, no." At the computer's regretful words, Sarah Jane was stunned into a horrified silence. "He will still grow at a natural speed."

"Fantasic!" Sarah Jane said with hyserical sarcasm. "There must be a way to get him back to normal! I'll find a way. Until then I'll just have to...to do my best."

"Would you like the nearest location of a Mother Care?"

"Shut up, Mr Smith."

* * *

Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. Sarah Jane glanced anxiously at Luke. They were in the living room, and he was sat on the sofa, chewing absent-mindedly on the ear of a teddy bear whilst watching some sort of puppet show. The first thing she had done was remove anything remotely dangerous from the room, then remembered the attic full of alien artifacts upstairs and given up.

The doorbell rang again, impatiently, and she got up to answer it. As she had suspected, when she opened it, it was to see Clyde and Rani on the doorstep wearing, not school clothes, but every day wear.

"School's cancelled, the pipes broke!" Clyde informed her gleefully. Rani rolled her eyes.

"Is Luke around?" she asked. Sarah Jane didn't know what to tell them.

"Um...yes, sort of," she said hesitantly. Rani and Clyde looked confused.

"How can he be 'sort of around'?" Clyde asked suspiciously, alread fearing the worst. Rani squinted at Sarah Jane.

"Are you OK?" she asked, concerned. "You look kind of weird."

"I'm fine," Sarah Jane said, and stepped back to let them inside. "Just got through, he's...he's in the living room."

She followed them into the room, and took in their reactions. Clyde looked puzzled at the sight of the toddler on the sofa, whereas Rani let out a squeal.

"Awww!" she cooed, her face lighting up. Then it dawned on her. "Oh my God!" She whirled to face Sarah Jane, her silence confirming her suspicions. "Oh...oh my God!"

"What?" Clyde asked thickly. "Where's Luke?" The two stared at him, waiting for the penny to drop. "OH MY GOD!"

"There it is."

"I found him like that this morning," Sarah Jane said nervously. Clyde was still as a statue, looking a mix of disbelieving and horrified.

"He's a toddler!" he managed to splutter. Rani hit him, and went over to Luke, cooing.

"I think he's adorable!" she said, lifting him up. He laughed and she tickled him playfully. "Aw, he's so cute!"

"That's my best friend!" Clyde seemed to be struggling to get his head around it. "He's, like, TWO! My best friend is two! Well, he was always...you know what I mean! He small now and everything! I can't have a best friend who goes to daycare! How did this happen?!"

"An alien parasite, according to Mr Smith," Sarah Jane said, more worry gripping her tightly as the reality of the situation sunk in deeper. "He doesn't know how to fix it. I'll need to buy things..." She wasn't sure why she was burdening the two fifteen year olds with her problems, but she needed support from anywhere she could get it.

"My Auntie has a kid, she came over the other day and accidently left her suitcase. We're driving over to take it back to today, but I could grab a few clothes. Her son's..." Rani faltered, putting Luke on the floor as he squirmed to be put down. They all watched him crawl accross the rug. "Her son is...is about Luke's age. Sarah Jane, this is mad."

"I know," she replied , running a hand through her hair, stress clear on her face.

"My mum kept a bunch of my stuff from when I was kid," Clyde offered, then frowned as a thought hit him. "D'you think he's still super smart?"

"I don't know." The thought had never really occured to Sarah Jane. "He hasn't even spoken so far."

"It might be shock?" Rani suggested. "Who knows how this stuff works?"

* * *

Later, Sarah Jane grabbed her coat and car keys, and announced she was off out.

"Could you two babysit?" she asked, poking her into the front room where Clyde and Rani were entertaining Luke. They had tried playing peek-a-boo, but he hadn't been fooled and simply threw a building block at Clyde.

"Sure, Sarah Jane," Rani said, smiling angelically while Clyde covered his face against the assualt of multicoloured building blocks.

"Where are you going?" Clyde asked after the last was thrown. "Working on a story?"

"I wish. No, first I'm going to the bookshop, then lots of...shops where you buy toddler things," Sarah Jane said vaguely, realising she had no idea where she was going. "I'll be back in a few hours." She gave Luke a quick kiss and a cuddle, before heading to the front door.

"Wait!" Rani shouted after her retreating back. "What if there's an alien invasion or something?"

"Tell them come back later!" Sarah Jane called back unhelpfully. Rani got up and watched her leave from the door, waving as she got into her car and drove away. When she returned to the living room, it was to find Clyde setting up-

"Xbox? Clyde, no!" Rani said, scandalized as she snatched the controller from his hands. "You'll traumatise Luke with all of those silly shooting games!"

"He has the high score on one of them! He might still be able to play, you never know!"

"Clyde, he's trying to _eat the couch_!" Rani tugged Luke away from the arm of the chair, brought him to eye level and pointed at the couch. "Not food. Understand? Not. Food. CLYDE!" The TV screen was suddenly ablaze with spaceships and gunfire. "I said no!"

"It's fine!" Clyde chucked her control with one hand, whilst blasting aliens with the other. "You can play too."

"No! You're being totally irresponsible!"

"I am not-"

"You are! It's too violent, he comes accross aliens in real life, what if he's prejudiced because of these games?"

"Are you actually serious?"

"Yes! Can't you just-" Rani cut off as a space ships exploded into fiery smithereens on the screen. Except Clyde wasn't playing. They turned to look at Luke, who was happily using Rani's controller. "See? HE JUST BLEW UP AN ALIEN!"

"Aliens," Clyde corrected her, watching Luke proudly. "That was a whole ship."

"Right..." Rani stomped over, picked up Luke (ignoring his wail of protest) and, balancing him on her hip, switched off the TV. "We are going to play some normal, child friendly games."

"Rani," Clyde said, as though speaking to someone incredibly stupid. "Luke has been kidnapped, has nearly been eaten, has nearly been killed more than once, has temporarily not existed and seen more than one actual alien explode, usually in his face. And you're worried about a game?"

"That was before!" Rani protested. "He probably doesn't even remember any of that."

"Prove it."

"He can't even speak!"

"So?"

Rani gave up on trying to bring Clyde to reason, and instead dragged him outside into the sunny garden. They tried to play ring around the rosie, but Luke had been distracted by a passing butterfly. So, instead, they ran around 'chasing butterflies' for over an hour. Luke was surprisingly fast for a baby, and more than once they were terrified that they'd lost him. There was one particularly frightening moment in which he nearly crawled through a gap in the fence that would lead to the road, and they only just caught him in time.

"It's like he's looking for trouble," Rani groaned, stopping Luke from trying to eat the grass. "I don't know what that parasite did, but he's definitely not a genius anymore."

"I dunno," Clyde said, watching his now infant best friend stare, transfixed, at a spider's web. "He always had a knack for nearly destroying himself and the world."

"I don't know how this is going to work," Rani said, while Luke, surprisingly gently for a toddler, pulled a ladybird that had been stuck in the web free. "With what Sarah Jane does, and our exams. Oh God, what about his exams? What will I do if dad asks what happened to his best student? He'll go mental! I can't just say 'sorry an alien parasite turned him into a toddler'!"

"I'll have to break the news to Maria," Clyde realised suddenly. "How do you tell someone that? I can't just-LUKE!" Clyde snatched him up furiously. "It. Is. Not. Cool. To. Eat. Dirt."

In response, Luke threw mud in his face. His tolerance levels, along with his size, seemed to have deteriorated.

* * *

After some peaceful minutes lying on the grass, watching fluffy clouds float by, Luke was nearly asleep. He wasn't the only one, however, as Clyde and Rani were already exhausted.

"We should feed him and then put him to bed," Clyde mumbled in suggestion, closing his own eyes. "We better get paid for this."

They gathered up their things and went inside, going into the kitchen and searching the cupboards. Clyde perked up considerably, quickly finding the ingredients for spaghetti and shooing them out.

Once it was ready, they sat around the table together. Upon seeing the spaghetti, Luke spoke up.

"Food?" he said uncertainly, and Rani beamed.

"Yes! That is food! I think we're getting somewhere," she said to Clyde happily. Then Luke pointed at the plant on the table.

"Food?" he asked again, and Rani's smile drooped.

"No. No, that's a plant. Not that plants can't be food, some of them are. But that one's not." She only succeeded in confusing him further, and sighed. "At least he can speak."

She changed her mind when she tried repeatedly to put a tea towel over him for fear of a spaghetti explosion, and he pulled it away again and again with series of firm 'No's.

As it turned out, she need not have worried. Luke remained sparkling clean at the end of lunch. The same could not, however, be said for the floor, the table, the window, the walls, and most of the kitchen cupboards. Quite a lot was aimed at Clyde, but he dodged with expert precision.

"Why does he keep throwing stuff at me?" he whined, taking refuge under the table. Rani smirked at him while toddler Luke chuckled in a somewhat evil way.

"Maybe as a toddler some buried emotions surfaced from before," she suggested. "Some feelings that he repressed and can, as an infant, finally show."

"He was my best mate, why-STOP THROWING PASTA AT ME!" Clyde scrambled out from under the table, beneath which pasta was being flung in his direction. He swiftly took away the plate, and dumped it in the sink. Looking around the sauce splattered kitchen, he scowled. "The spaghetti's everywhere. I'm never having kids. Ever."

"At least it's not on you," Rani pointed out, lifting Luke up from his seat (he had been perched on a mountain of cushions), "and it isn't alien goo."

Clyde had to agree that spaghetti on the floor was better than alien gunk on himself.

* * *

When Sarah Jane returned in the evening, much later than she had expected, it was to find the three of them crashed out on the floor of the living room, surrounded by pillows and sofa cushions. The TV was tuned to a children's show that babbled in the background. Clyde appeared to actually be asleep, but Rani was keeping her eye on Luke as a responsible babysitter should. When Luke caught sight of Sarah Jane, his eyes lit up and he stood, toddling towards her.

"Mum!" he said by way of greeting. Sarah Jane nearly dropped her shopping.

"He speaks now?" she asked, dumping her bags and bending down to pick him up as he reached out. "Since when?"

"Since a few hours ago," Rani said, sitting up from where she had been sprawled on the floor, yawning. "He said food. We were trying to teach him what was food and what wasn't...like grass, or dirt, or the couch..."

"Mum, alien went boom!" Luke told Sarah Jane joyfully in a barely understandable gabble. She frowned.

"Alien? What alien?"" she asked, panicked. "Boom?"

"Oh, no, he's talking about a game Clyde was playing," Rani explained quickly. "It had aliens in it. I told him not to play it in front of Luke. Didn't I, Clyde?" She nudged his sleeping form firmly, and he rolled over, covering his eyes and groaning.

"Geddoff, I'm knackered," he mumbled. Sarah Jane looked sympathetic.

"I'm sorry if he was a lot of trouble," she said, but Rani waved a hand airily.

"He was fine, really. We're mostly tired from cleaning the kitchen," she said, and explained further under Sarah Jane's questioning look. "There was a, er, mild spaghetti incident. But it was fine! Right, Clyde? Clyde!" Rani smacked Clyde on the arm.

"Mmf," he grunted in agreement.

"Thanks so much," Sarah Jane said, setting Luke down on the sofa and taking some notes of her bag. "You didn't have to do this. Here." She handed them each forty pounds, which roused Clyde from his hibernation.

"Sweet!"

"We can't take this," Rani said, immediately handing the money back. "Seriously, I didn't help out for the money." She looked at Clyde pointedly, who sighed.

"Yeah, I can't take this," he said, giving it back to Sarah Jane. He paused, then looked sort of sadly at Luke. "I kind of miss him. I mean, I know it's him, but it's not. There has to be a way to get him back." Sarah Jane didn't say anything, and he smiled bracingly. "Oh, well. We'll be here for you."

"No matter what," Rani added.

After the two of them left, it was just Sarah Jane and Luke. She spent the rest of the evening sorting out what she'd bought, putting new clothes in drawers, and putting toys in his room. After settling Luke down in his room, Sarah Jane sat and read the new book she had bought about childcare.

By nine, she was exhausted. Luke had woken, and she had never realised until now how dangerous cords on blinds, stairs and the contents of sink cabinets could be. Eventually, she put him to bed for the final time, lying next to him. She wondered if he remembered her at all, or if he was still getting to know her. It was all such a crazy mess.

She placed pillows around him-tomorrow the new child's bed she ordered would be delivered. She'd been a mother for a while now, but somehow it was as though the slate had been wiped clean, and she wondered what the days ahead held.


	2. Chapter 2

# Little Luke 2 # *I own the waitress that's all *

* * *

Sarah Jane was finding out that Luke as an actual toddler was harder than her first few months with him when he had been just born as a thirteen year old. She spent the next day first baby proofing the house, then reading up on toddlers while both trying to finish an article and keep Luke from ripping the pages out of the books. Gita had stopped by on her way to the shops and Sarah Jane had desperately tried to keep Luke in the front room, but he was having none of that. When Gita saw him she looked surprised and had looked at Sarah Jane questioningly. Sarah Jane had (as calmly as she could) picked Luke up, and smoothly lied to Gita that Luke was the nephew of a friend and she'd be looking after him for a while. She had hoped that would satisfy Gita's curiosity but, naturally, it didn't. Sometimes Sarah Jane wondered if Gita was the one who should be a journalist, not Rani. No matter how hard she tried, she would not leave and kept asking questions.

"Where's Luke, my darling?" she asked tickling Luke under the chin, unaware said boy was in front of her.

"Visiting friends of mine," Sarah Jane smoothly lied again. "

Well, if there's anything you need don't hesitate to ask,"Gita said with a smile. Sarah Jane thanked her politely before saying she had to put Luke (although she simply said 'him') down for a nap, and headed back inside.

* * *

Putting Luke down for nap was easier said than done. She had put him down at least three times, but no sooner had she put him down when he was up with a firm "No nap." She gave up. Battling an alien was easier than dealing with a stubborn toddler. Even though the books all warned against giving toddlers their way, she figured if Luke was tired enough he'd sleep. After reading several children's books he finally fell asleep (possibly out of the boredom of hearing about the insanely dull adventures of Sammy the Squirrel) and Sarah Jane tiptoed out of the room, hoping he'd stay asleep for at least a few hours. That would give her time to finish her articles, check for any alien activity and warn Torchwood. When she had told Jack what had happened he hadn't believed her until she presented Luke. He laughed at her bit, then promised that Torchwood would keep an eye out for aliens.

* * *

It was two hours later when Sarah Jane heard Luke announcing he was awake. She noticed he did that in the morning too, and she also found out if she didn't come right away he got louder or came to her room and said "Mum, I am awake." He didn't give up easily.

She saved the article and headed upstairs and into his room, finding herself hitting the realisation that training pants would now be an issue to deal with. Ten minutes later, she settled him (in clean clothes) in the highchair with a snack of biscuits and juice in a sippy cup. She had a cup of tea to sip herself. She must now have around five or six cups of tea a day, still dealing with the shock of having a teenage son replaced with toddler.

* * *

Rani and Clyde came over after school. Rani was armed with toddler books and dvds, and Clyde had some toys which, surprisingly, were actually age appropriate. Sarah Jane thanked them.

Rani and Clyde noticed that the normally put together Sarah Jane looked a bit...not unkempt, but certainly not as put together as she normally was; her hair was pulled in a low ponytail and she had on a pair of lounge pants, a shirt and a well worn cardigan.

"You look tired," Rani observed. "You should go out, we'll babysit Luke." Clyde looked up, a look of terror crossing his face, no doubt remembering what had happened last time they babysat Luke.

"_We will_?"

"Yes," Rani said firmly. "We will. It's been three days and Sarah Jane needs some time alone."

"Fine. But if he throws _one thing_ at me, best mate or not he's going in time out," Clyde said as he looked at Luke. "Got it, Lukey Boy? Chuck one thing at me it's time out ." His words would have held more conviction if Luke hadn't held out a half eaten biscuit up to Clyde .

"You bite."

Sarah Jane left them to it and headed upstairs to change, calling Martha on the way who agreed to meet her at a restaurant.

* * *

"So...Luke is a toddler? How did this happen again? " Martha asked, looking up as a waitress set a steaming plate of curry in front of Sarah Jane, who waited until both dinners had been placed down and the waitress had left before saying,"Alien parasite. Mr Smith thinks a stray one got loose and somehow Luke came into contact with it." She sighed. "I should be grateful. I mean, it could be worse. He could have gotten terribly sick or it could have killed him. Turning him jnto a toddler actually seems kind, you know?" Martha nodded, looking sympathetic.

"Well, if you ever need any help just call," she offered. Sarah Jane nodded, and began wondering how Clyde and Rani were getting on.

* * *

Back at the house, Luke had somehow gotten hold of some pens and had proceeded to scribble over several books and the couch before Rani grabbed them from him.

"No, Luke! Bad! Very bad!" she said in her sternest voice, handing Clyde the pen. She led him over to the pile of toys, and handed him one that you put the different blocks in the proper shaped hole. It only took him a minute or so to get all the blocks in the proper hole. Rani clapped her hands.

"Good job, Lukey! You did it!" She praised, taking off the lid and spilling the shapes back onto the floor, ready to start again. Instead, when expected to again shove the blocks in, Luke simply pulled off the lid as Rani had done and dropped the blocks in. "Oh. Um...OK," Rani said, looking baffled as Luke smiled at her. Clyde raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you surprised, he's a genius? Besides that's a bit easy. Let's try something a bit more challenging." He lined the blocks up in a row. "All right, Luke, find the red block." Clyde instructed. They only had to wait a few seconds before Luke picked up the red block.

The rest of the evening was slightly better than the last. They heated up some fish fingers and chips so in case Luke did throw anything, it was less mess to clean up. Rani managed to get him to wear a bib (Sarah Jane had gotten several bibs with a space theme and she found one with stars and a moon that Luke seemed to like).

* * *

"I shouldn't leave Rani and Clyde alone with Luke too long," Sarah Jane said, feeling a bit guilty. Martha reached across the table, taking her hand.

"Taking a night off doesn't make you a terrible mother. Besides, from what you've told me Clyde and Rani seem responsible enough to babysit."

Sarah Jane nodded. She still felt a bit guilty, though she wasn't sure why. It wasn't as if she had never left Luke with a babysitter before-when he was 'young', she used to have Maria or Alan watch him when she was called out to work or something. Maybe it was because he had appeared thirteen despite being just born and she felt better about it for that reason. He looked after himself, he just had to be stopped from doing the odd stupid thing. Now he really was a toddler who needed to be constantly watched and taken care of.

* * *

Rani decided to give Luke a once over with a flannel, half-filling the bath with water. Sensing disaster, Clyde ducked out, claiming he had to clean the kitchen (one lone chip had been flung). Rani rolled her eyes and headed upstairs, Luke in her arms.

Despite trying to keep the mess at minimum, it didn't work. Rather than dunking him in the actual bath Rani held him above it so any drips fell harmlessly into the tup, using a flannel to give his face and hands what was meant to be a quick scrub. However, he had snatched it from her hands and thrown it into the bath. Water splashed up at them both.

"Luke!"

Terrified he was going to fall, Rani bent down as hee started wriggling in her arms, and (as he seemed to have planned) he managed to slip through them like a bar of soap and drop the short distance into the bathtub. He sat amongst the bubbles fully clothed, looking very pleased with himself. Rani stared at him in disbelief.

"You're an evil mastermind," she told him. He grinned proudly.

"Waves," he said in a small, cute voice. Rani frowned.

"What?"

"Waves!" Luke splashed at the water violently, creating 'waves' and causing a lot of water to splash onto the bathroom floor.

"No, not waves! No waves!"

By the time they were finished, the bathroom floor was covered in water. There were soap suds everywhere and poor Rani was soaked.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, they were watching a movie when Luke-who had been sitting between them-climbed into Rani's lap. He was asleep within five minutes.

Clyde looked over at the toddler version of his best friend. He still couldn't get over the fact he was a toddler and was curled up on the lap of the girl he fancied (not that he'd admit it to her, that was definitely not cool ) sucking his thumb. He knew that it was Luke, but it wasn't. It was funny a lot of the time, but occasionally Clyde felt sad.

Putting his more morose thoughts aside, he handed Rani a blanket, watching as she covered Luke.

"Maybe I should take him up to bed," she said, standing up and heading upstairs. Clyde followed, stepping over the toys strewn accross the floor on the way.

Sarah Jane came back around eleven. She paid them fifty pounds each (saying it was for last time as well, forcing the money on Rani). She thanked them gratefully.

"How was he?" she asked. They assured her everything went fine, and after they left Sarah Jane headed upstairs and into Luke's room. It had gone from a teenager's room to a child's room. Some of the things did remain, like the posters of the solar system, whereas other things were replaced. Gone were the projects he had been working on (she had put those in the attic) having been replaced with toys.

She looked over at Luke. She had decided to look at this as a second chance. He had been growing up too quickly, and at least now she could hold onto him. She was grateful for that.


	3. Chapter 3

# Little Luke # **A/N: this is not a crossover despite the Doctor showing up**

Sarah Jane wasn't tired. She was exhausted.

Luke had learned-or rather re-learned-another word. This sparkling new word was now his favourite, and this word was 'mine'. This made going to the shops interesting to say the least, as she had to spend half of her time there prying things out of hands. He wanted to possess everything from toys from the children's section to teapots and oven mitts.

Sarah Jane had been apprehensive about daring to venture to the shops again. Now, as they stood at the till, she knew she had been right to be and vowed to shop over the internet from now on as much as she could.

"Luke," she said in her sharpest voice. He looked up at her, stubbornly refusing to release his death grip on the bottle of ketchup in his hands. "Give me the bottle, please." He did nothing. "If you don't give it to me I can't pay for it!"

"MIIIINE!" Luke shrieked at her as she tried to take it, tightening his already tight grip on the bottle. The woman at the till stifled a giggle, and Sarah Jane tried to keep it together.

"It's a bottle of ketchup," she said to Luke calmly. "It's tomato sauce. You don't want it really, do you?"

"MINE!"

"No, I'm paying for it, so it's mine. Not yours, mine."

"No!"

"Yes-"

"Mine! Mine, mine, mine, mine..." Luke carried on in a sing-song voice, and Sarah Jane sighed. She continued paying for the rest of her purchases, giving up on trying to reason with him when he couldn't be reasoned with.

* * *

Later that day, there was a small, shining, golden moment of peace after Luke had been put down for a nap. The quiet seemed so much more beautiful, the sun so much brighter...the moment was so perfect, so-

The doorbell rang shrilly, and the wonderful little bubble of calm burst abruptly. Slumped in a chair, Sarah Jane closed her eyes and ignored it, hoping that whoever it was would just go away. The last things she needed was some irritating salesperson at the door, or worse...Gita.

Sadly, the doorbell rang again and again, and then the banging on the door started. Then the letterbox clanged repeatedly as someone deliberately clattered it to get her attention. It was the cheek of this that dragged her from her chair, and it was with some violence that she threw open the door, ready to give whoever it was a piece of her mind.

"Hello!" The man grinned at her cheekily, standing boldly before her as though he owned the place, his hands in the pockets of his suit, rocking backwards and forwards excitedly in the converses he had paired with it. Sarah Jane wouldn't have needed to see his familiar face to know who he was-only the Doctor had dress sense like that.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise, then realised how harsh that sounded. "I'm sorry. I mean, it's good to see you." She stepped back to let him in, and he shrugged as he walked past her.

"Yeah, well. Got a bit lonely, Donna's not with me," he said, then quickly went silent. Sarah Jane guessed that he had revealed more than he would have wanted, and didn't ask about his former companion's whereabouts. She said nothing, and watched him glance around, seeing him take in the toys on the stairs and the books about toddlers on the coffee table. She could see the spark of curiosity in his eyes, and could see his mind calculating and guessing, whirring away...

"Tea?" she asked him shortly, and he faced her, beaming. He looked unsuspicious, but she new he hadn't finished calculating the situation. He had just paused.

"Go on then, I love tea," he said enthusiastically. He babbled away as he trailed after her into the kitchen, and she got the impression that he hadn't had the opportunity to talk to someone for a while. "Do you know, there was this family in London, this time and everything-well, roughly, around the year two thousand and thirty-"

"Sugar?"

"Yep, please. Anyway, they were called Mr and Mrs Grey, and they called their son Earl! As in Earl Grey!"

"No, really?"

"I know! See, interesting names are a passion of mine. I should collect them, start a book or-"

"Say when to stop pouring the milk."

"Got it. So anyway-oh, hang on, 'when'. That might be a bit too much milk. Ah, well, never mind. So, most people I know have boring names, like Martha or Donna or Pete or yours, Sarah, or-"

"Sarah Jane."

"Yeah, so when I met this guy called Earl Grey I nearly wet myself. Don't get me started on Alonso." The Doctor grinned as he took his cup of tea from Sarah Jane. She didn't say anything as his eyes wandered to the high chair beside the table.

"Do you want a biscuit or something?" she asked after a few moments. He shook his head.

"Nah, I'm fine. Um..." He walked over to the table and picked up a children's book from the table, turning it over in his hands. "Has anything, er, new happened recently?" Sarah Jane put down her cup and sighed.

"If you call your teenage son being suddenly turned into a toddler then yes, something new has happened," she said. The Doctor stared at her in surprise and barely concealed intrigue.

"When did that happen?" he asked. "Scratch that, that's not that important. How?"

"An alien parasite," Sarah Jane said. "It's irreversible."

"You seem calm about it," he noted, surveying her in a way she didn't like. It was though she was being assessed. "Do you mind?"

"Yes, of course I mind!" she snapped at him a bit too hastily, and he raised an eyebrow. She took a deep breath. "I mean, it's not too bad. It's hard and it's different, but not terrible."

"If you like, I could double check that it's irreversible," the Doctor suggested. "Where is he, anyway?"

"Sleeping. He'll be up soon, anyway." Sarah Jane sighed, and-as he was still staring at her in an unnerving way-she changed the subject. "I didn't hear the TARDIS, usually it makes such a noise."

"It's in your garden," the Doctor said, suddenly looking guilty. She folded her arms, eyes narrowing.

"What's that look for?" she asked threateningly.

"Those roses in your garden weren't your favourites or anything, were they? The red ones?"

"Yes, as it happens, they were!" Sarah Jane said hotly, and for some reason he smiled, looking pleased.

"Well, that's good, because they're fine. I did land the TARDIS of some daffodils though, but at least the roses-which are your favourites-are OK." He looked very smug at how his little plan to soften the blow and her anger had gone, and for a moment she felt like snapping at him for being such a smart-assed, gobby know-it-all who squashed her daffodils. Then she felt a smile on her face, and her heart swelled with a kind of aching happiness at seeing him again after missing him.

* * *

After scanning Luke, the Doctor turned to Sarah Jane.

"There's good news and there's bad news, which do you want first?" he asked her, and her heart sank.

"The bad," she said, and watched as the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to make Luke's robotic toys move on their own across the floor, causing him to be distracted and chase after them.

"It is irreversible, your computer was right about that," he said. "But he's still got the same brilliant mind as before. The parasite in question creates the traits of a toddler, which he will still have, so as to disarm their enemy. However, the real biological aspects of the person will still remain."

"Right," Sarah Jane said slowly, and he continued.

"So, while he can't change his appearance, he is able to fight off a large amount of the effect on his mind and behaviour. He won't suddenly be ridiculously smart or anything, but he'll quickly be more intelligent than average, pieces of information will surface, he'll work out things in different ways...of course, I'm just guessing. Maybe he will suddenly be Einstein. Maybe you'll wake up one morning and find out he's built a teleport device in his room, I dunno. It's quite fascinating, really."

"That's not the word I'd use," Sarah Jane muttered, although she was still relieved. He would do well at school, but would also have better social skills. It seemed ideal...

...But then the reality sunk in, the thoughts she'd been to busy to entertain or denying. By the time he was five Clyde and Rani would be at university. He would have different friends, friends he would bring to the house, friends who could find out what she did. At eleven she would be well into her sixties. By the time he was ready to leave home, she might be in a home or even dead. What if she had to explain who he was? Should she tell him his past if couldn't remember? Would he have to meet people he already knew all over again?

It was the last thought that sparked Sarah Jane's memory, and she suddenly remembered something, or someone, that had completely slipped her mind, namely Maria, who was supposed to be visiting this weekend.

"Would you mind babysitting?" she asked the Doctor, who was writing on some paper in a felt tip pen he had found whilst showing Luke. She frowned at the writing, which looked a lot like squiggles to her. "What are you doing?"

"Seeing if he can work out these equations. Come on," he prompted Luke impatiently. "It's easy!"

"Look, I have to pick someone up from the airport," Sarah Jane said quickly. "Can you handle babysitting?"

"'Course, it'll be fun!" The Doctor grinned, then looked in despair at the paper Luke was writing on. "Oh, don't try and use pi, it's rubbish."

* * *

After grabbing her purse and keys, Sarah Jane sped off in her car, wondering how on Earth she could break the news to Maria, who she hadn't gotten around to telling.

When she reached the airport, she was greeted with a hug by a luggage-laden Maria.

"Maria," she said seriously after they broke apart, keeping her voice low so the bustling people around wouldn't hear. "Listen, there's something you should know about Luke-"

"It's OK, I already know," she interrupted. "If you mean what I think you mean."

"That he's...a toddler," Sarah Jane said carefully, in case Maria thought what she meant wasn't what she meant and hadn't prepared herself for what she actually meant.

"Yeah, Clyde told me," Maria explained, as they headed out of the airport. "Whined, actually. Apparently he got food thrown at him and stuff, and something about not being able to blow up aliens."

Maria fell silent as though loaded her luggage into the car, and she looked worried as when she finally spoke again.

"Do you think he'll remember who I am?" she asked quietly.

"Maria, he seemed to remember me, and apparently Clyde and some way he had wronged him in the past," Sarah Jane said, and Maria gave her a small smile. "I'm sure he'll remember you. This situation is strange and works in funny ways, but he's still him."

Seeming satisfied with that answer, Maria got in the car and instead turned her attention to the woman she considered a second mother. "How are you, though? You look knackered."

"Let's just say fighting a million aliens isn't half as exhausting as looking after one toddler," Sarah Jane said as they set off down the road.

"He can't be as bad as my little cousin," Maria said thoughtfully. "He flushed my Auntie's ring down the toilet twice. And my other cousin, when she was two, got hold of some scissors and cut off her hair. I think she was trying to play hairdresser's. It was probably mum's fault, because she always took her on hair appointments whenever she had to babysit."

Sarah Jane didn't doubt that.

* * *

When the returned, by some miracle the house hadn't been blown up or set on fire because of some experiment gone wrong.

"We're back!" Sarah Jane called out as she helped Maria get her bags inside.

"I just showed Luke the TARDIS!" the Doctor's voice shouted back from the kitchen. "I was thinking of taking him somewhere, but thought you might get all annoyed about it so we decided to be boring in the end!"

"Good!"

When they followed his voice into the kitchen, it was obvious Luke remembered Maria. While the Doctor sheepishly tried to hide a mostly eaten packet of cookies behind his back, Luke cried out from where he was sat on the table.

"Maria!" he said happily, and she grinned.

"He does remember me!" she said elatedly, and hurried over, only to stop, realising she had no idea what to say to him. "Um. Hi?"

"Bonjour," Luke said casually, and Maria looked shocked. Sarah Jane shot a look at the Doctor.

"OK, maybe I took him to France just for a teeny-weeny little while."

"He's so sweet," Maria observed. "Aw." She turned to the Doctor next, looking interested. "You just said TARDIS, you're the Doctor, aren't you?"

"That's right. I'm famous then, am I?" he said, looking smug again. "Has Sarah Jane told you the stories, about how brilliant I am?"

"She didn't say you were this full of yourself," Maria noted jokingly, and he pretended to be insulted.

"Well. Bit rude."

* * *

Maria turned out to be an absolute godsend. She was a natural with Luke, and easily kept him occupied with games while Sarah Jane caught up on articles. The Doctor had left, but had promised to 'pop back in soon'. Sarah Jane knew that could easily mean that he would 'pop in' in another two or three years, so didn't let her thoughts linger on the prospect.

In some ways, the fact that Luke adored Maria was a little depressing to Sarah Jane. He very rarely played up with her, and she even managed to get him to eat vegetables at dinner. Every time Sarah Jane tried to get Luke to eat even one measly, pathetic little snippet of a vegetable he acted as if she were trying to feed him poison. She had tried every trick in the book, but he either dumped his plate on the floor or spat out the vegetable with a sour expression if she succeeded in getting him to taste one bite.

"How are you doing that?" Sarah Jane asked, a little bitter as Maria got to eat piece after piece of carrot without the any problems. She shrugged modestly.

"I remember a trick dad used to do to get me to eat peas."

Of course, even Maria couldn't be perfect. No matter who much of a natural anyone is as a mother or babysitter, accidents are bound to happen unless you wrap your child up in cotton wool and bubble wrap.

Sarah Jane was washing dishes, when she heard a crash followed by a wail, and soon after Maria's terrified cry.

"Sarah Jane!"

She dropped the dish back into the sink, her best china probably chipping and water sloshing out, and ran into the living room. Luke was wailing on the floor, and Maria looked extremely pale.

"I only left for a second to get some toys, I didn't know he would climb the bookcase," she said frantically, with words that ran together in panic. Sarah Jane ignored her and lifted Luke up carefully, checking him over.

"His arm might be broken," she said, trying to stay calm for all of their sakes. Maria blanched.

"I'm so sorry, I really am so, so, so sorry-"

"Maria, I didn't say this was your fault," Sarah Jane said, perhaps a little shortly. "Go and grab a blanket and a bear, and hold Luke while I get a bag with the rest if his things."

Maria took Luke carefully, still feeling sick with guilt despite Sarah Jane's assurances that it wasn't her fault.


	4. Chapter 4

# Little Luke 2 # *A/N:I own no one *

**Hi, KBerry here! I beta this story and love helping with it, and I wrote the second part of this chapter. Thanks to Mystic Lover of the fairytale for providing such a great story in the first place, and hope you enjoy :)**

* * *

It had been three weeks since Luke had gone from teen to toddler, and Sarah Jane was now used to the major changes in her front lounge. It was now littered with toys, and a small table and chair was set up in the corner away from her laptop so she could watch Luke while working.

She was working on her laptop outside, squinting at the screen and struggling to see what she had written in the sunlight. It wasn't fair to keep Luke inside on such a bright day, but work was still important. Sighing, she took a brake from staring at the screen and watched as Luke squatted down to intently study the ground. After a moment, he pulled up the grass and turned to look at her.

"Mummy, grass," he said simply.

"Yes, it's grass. But don't eat it," Sarah Jane added quickly in anticipation. He let the grass fall from his hand, then toddled over and climbed on the bench.

"I do buttons," he said, and pounded on the laptop's keys before Sarah Jane could stop him.

"No! Very bad, don't-touch-mum's-things!" Sarah Jane said while wrestling with him. Luckily the article had survived the attack, but was now filled with weird symbols. With a weary sigh, she deleted them, hoping against hope that he'd be better behaved that afternoon.

* * *

Sarah Jane quickly realised that Luke behaving himself when they went to visit Alistair and Liz was about as likely as a fleet of flying pigs zooming through the sky while leaving a trail of rainbows behind them. She had told them about him beforehand, so there was no surprise when they saw him, and the first half hour went smoothly. Luke scribbled happily on some paper Liz had found, but Sarah Jane knew it wouldn't last.

Eventually, Luke got bored and abandoned the paper, and went over to stare at the stuffed birds on one of the shelves. Sarah Jane went to get the paper that had been left, intending to take it back with them. She looked down at the page with a sad sort of look. Some of it was meaningless scribble, a few half-hearted attempts at pictures or writing, but at some point the scribbles had changed to become equations that she wouldn't attempt in her wildest dreams. That sort of thing happened a lot. One moment Luke would be a typical toddler, and then all of a sudden he would quote Shakespeare or mumble some theory. After a minute or so, it would be as though he had never said or done anything unusual.

"Bird." Luke interrupted her thoughts, and she stuffed the paper into her bag before facing him. He was staring up at one of the stuffed birds, and Liz, noticing his gaze, took it down and handed it to him.

"Yes, it is a bird," she said. Luke looked at it quietly. His hold on it tightened, and Sarah Jane's heart sank.

"My bird," he predictably decided. 'Mine' and 'no' are possibly two of the worst things he could possible have to say, and they were his favourite words.

"Give it back to Auntie Liz," Sarah Jane said firmly, kneeling in front of him. He gave her a surprisingly hostile look. She tried to take it, against her better judgement.

"MINE!" he yelled furiously.

"It's all right," Liz said hastily. "He can keep it if he wants it that badly."

"But he doesn't," Sarah Jane said irritably. "He seems to want everything. He'll get bored of it soon enough."

The good news was that he did. The bad news was that he spotted something else-a poor, unsuspecting cat that was sleeping peacefully on a chair. That is, it was sleeping until Luke dragged it off the chair and held it awkwardly.

"My kitty," he informed them in final sort of tone. Sitting down beside them, he stroked the cat the wrong way so that its fur was sticking up in the wrong direction. Luckily, the cat was old and didn't seem to care that a child was stroking it and messing up its fur.

They only stayed another hour as they had to get back before Luke's nap, and so they were there when Martha arrived; she was babysitting for the night as Sarah Jane had a function to attend for an article she was writing that she couldn't get out of.

Luke reluctantly left the cat behind, and chatted to himself in what seemed like nonsense when they were in the car. After recognising a word, Sarah Jane realised with little astonishment that it was actually Spanish.

* * *

While waiting for Martha, Rani and Clyde arrived after school.

"It's a nightmare," Clyde complained, throwing himself down onto the sofa dramatically. Sarah Jane barely spared him a glance, her attention on her work.

"Mm?" Was all she bothered to say, continuing to tap away at her computer.

"It was all, 'where's Luke?' from everyone I know, and the teachers were asking if he was skiving and why my homework's suddenly got so much worse...I'm telling you, it's like being interrogated!"

"Really?" Sarah Jane asked anxiously, his comments earning a miniscule amount of her attention.

"No," Rani said, shooting Clyde a disapproving look. "About two people asked us where Luke was, one teacher asked if he was off sick-I said yes-and as for Clyde's homework, that was figured out pretty quickly. I doubt it will be a lingering issue."

"It will be for me, I need Luke to help me!" Clyde whined, 'help him' meaning 'do it all for him'. He got off the sofa to sit next to Luke, who was sitting amongst building blocks on the floor. "C'mon, you must have some super brain cells left!"

"Clyde, don't!" Rani scolded, but he ignored her and pulled his chemistry book from his bag. He held it in front of Luke's face and pointed to it.

"See those questions?" he told him, and Luke stared at him in bemusment. "Can you try and do those for me?" He carefully placed the book on the floor in front of him and stepped back, clearly waiting for something to happen. Rani glared at Clyde. Clyde stared at the book. Sarah Jane looked at Luke.

Luke glanced at the book's pages, then threw a block at Clyde's head.

"Thanks," Clyde said in a voice filled with bitter sarcasm. He snatched up the book, and sat back on the sofa, his head in his hands. "Can my life get any worse?"

It turned out that it could, because-as he raised his head-he saw Rani shrugging her bag back up onto her shoulder.

"Where are are you going?" he asked accusingly. Rani looked slightly taken aback as she replied.

"To get ready."

"For what?"

"I told you in maths yesterday," Rani said, rather irritably now. "I'm going out with my Auntie, remember?"

"Today?"

"Yes. We're all going out for dinner, my mum, my Auntie, Jaden and Richard-"

"Who are Jaden and Richard?" Clyde asked quickly, jumping on the names with a kind of ferocious urgency. At his tone, Luke turned his attention away from the building blocks (from which he had built a remarkably accurate replica of the Eiffel Tower) and Rani frowned.

"Jaden is my cousin and Richard's his mate from school, he's staying with them-"

"Oh? What...what year is he in?" Clyde asked, trying to sound casually interested, a feat he failed at seeing as moments before he had looked ready to kill. Rani now wore a similar expression as he had previously.

"Our year. Why does it matter?"

"Well...no, it...it doesn't," Clyde said hurriedly. "I was just interested, that's all."

"Right," Rani said, looking a combination of amused and annoyed. "I'll be off then. Unless you want to know exactly what time I'm leaving, where I'm going and everyone's date of birth?"

"Haha," Clyde said with a strained grin. "Text me if you get bored."

"I'm sure I'll be able to get through it," Rani said, and firmly turned her back on Clyde to wave to Luke. "Bye, Luke!"

"Bye," he said without looking at her, carefully adding the final block to his tower.

"Bye, Sarah Jane," Rani called, and she waved a hand in acknowledgement. "See you tomorrow, Clyde."

"Bye," he said, a little glumly. Rani left, and there was the sound of the front door opening and closing with a click.

Accross the room, Sarah Jane sighed and signed off her computer after a glance at her watch.

"Where are _you_ going?" Clyde asked, as though two people leaving his presence was too much tragedy to handle in one day.

"I've got to work," Sarah Jane said, picking up her bag from where it had been slung ready over the back of her seat. She snatched some papers from her desk, looking tensely at her watch once more as she did so, and stuffed them into the bag.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Clyde prompted slowly when she was half-way to the door, busily fussing with her bag. Sarah Jane looked at him in panic.

"What?" she asked, checking herself in a fluster. "No, I don't think so."

"Your son?" Clyde said, gesturing at Luke. Sarah Jane looked relieved.

"Oh, no, Martha's coming over to babysit. She said she'd be here ten minutes ago, but I really can't wait for her any longer," she explained, resuming walking to the door. "You wouldn't mind waiting for her would you? Thanks, Clyde!"

The front door slamed yet again, and then there was only the silence and the clattering sound of building blocks. Clyde looked down at Luke miserably.

"Guess it's just you and me then," he said in a dull voice. Luke didn't say anything, and the pause seemed too much for Clyde.

"She doesn't even talk to me any more!" he exploded furiously. "Ever since you've gone it's been so awkward, and now there's this stupid Richard!"

Luke had stopped playing with the brightly coloured bricks, and gave his friend his politely baffled attention as he ranted.

"...and it's a stupid name anyway, 'Richard'," Clyde continued. "It sounds like he's a sixty year old snob who plays cricket and talks about the economy, doesn't it?"

If Luke had been his usual self he probably would have disagreed, and reminded Clyde that the most popular boy in school happened to be called Rick, which was shortened from his full name, Richard, and told Clyde that he was simply directing his anger towards this boy he had never met because deep down he was angry with himself for being unable to pluck up the courage to ask out Rani.

Instead, he said 'erg', which Clyde took to mean 'I completely agree with you and can't think of anything I'd rather do than hear more'.

"Why is he going out with Rani's family, anyway?" Clyde said, fuming. "He doesn't need to be there! If Rani had told me earlier, I would have offered to go with her! If her cousin can bring a mate, so can she"

Luke wanted to say 'but she did, she told you in maths yesterday' but instead only managed to say 'maths'.

"Yeah, whatever, we'll do some later," Clyde said, taking his comment to be an irrelevant mention of his love for the subject and brushing it aside. "I'm telling you, she's shutting me out!"

Luke now sported a look of extreme annoyance, and would, if he wasn't a toddler, have told Clyde that his absence from the group had left Rani and Clyde alone and forced them to consider their feelings for each other. Luke debated for a moment with trying to say this, but then his attention was caught by his favourite toy (a cuddly pink pig) and he completely forgot his point and instead made the pig knock down the Eiffel Tower.

"You can't help, though, can you?" Clyde said gloomily, as the blocks skittered accross the carpet and the pig, puppeteered by Luke, performed a victory dance. "Even if you weren't...you know, how you are, you probably wouldn't have been able to say anything useful. You had about as many social skills as a brick."

This was such an unfair statement that it was a mark of Luke's friendship and sympathy for Clyde that he did not find himself under attack from more of the blocks.

The doorbell rang out, puncturing Clyde's bubble of self-absorbed misery, and he reluctantly went to answer it.

"Hi," said the woman standing at the door anxiously. "I'm Martha. Martha Jones? Have I got the right house?"

"Yeah," Clyde said, standing back to let her in. "Sarah Jane had to go, she told me to wait for you. I'm Clyde."

"Hi," Martha said again with a smile. "I didn't mean to be so late."

"It's fine," Clyde said, shrugging. They went through the living room, and sat on the sofa.

"So you're Luke's friend?" Martha said, clearly aiming for light chit-chat. However, Clyde's glum mood refused to be lightened.

"I was his best mate, but now I've been replaced by a cuddly pig," he said sourly, as Luke happily hugged the toy.

"I'm sure that's not true," Martha said sympathetically. When he didn't agree, she shook her head and looked down at Luke in awe. "It is amazing though, isn't it? To think an alien parasite did that...are there more of them out there?"

"Don't think so," Clyde said. "Sarah Jane said it was just the one."

"Unlucky," Martha said thoughtfully. "Out of all the places that it could have gone to, it came to this house? You don't think it could have been sent on purpose, do you? Maybe someone out there had a grudge against Sarah Jane and meant to get her, but got Luke instead?"

"We didn't really think about that," Clyde said, then looked at Luke. "He normally thinks of stuff like that. You really think it might not have been an accident?"

"I don't know," Martha said worriedly. "It might just have been bad luck. Just be careful, keep an eye out for anything strange..."

* * *

The blood-red evening sun blazed against the glass of the living room windows, then cooled into a dull orange, and eventually the vibrant colours seeped into the inky black, leaving behind the night sky.

A few lamps lit the room with pools of cosy light, and Martha, Clyde and Luke were on the sofa together, watching the end of a movie.

"I need to go soon," Clyde said, checking the time on his phone. "I should be able to wait until the end of this, though."

Curled up, asleep, Luke stirred as the DVD player began to buzz, as it had done what seemed like a million times before.

"Seriously, Sarah Jane needs to get a new DVD player!" Clyde said irritably, getting up from his comfortable position on the chair with difficulty. "One that isn't about a century old!"

He had never quite forgiven it for the time it stuck during Die Hard and broke his DVD.

Clyde knelt down and switched off the DVD, and took it out of the DVD player, checking it for any damage.

"...Hurry up and take it out, will you?" Martha groaned, pulling the now awake and alert Luke closer to her. "That noise is so annoying, and it's bothering Luke." He did indeed seem very distressed, and it was all Martha could do to stop him scrambling right off the sofa.

"I have taken it out," Clyde said in confusion, but now that he payed attention, he realised he could still hear it buzzing too. "Oh God, Sarah Jane will kill me if we've fried her DVD player."

"Turn the whole thing off then," Martha said, getting up and going over herself.

They switched off the DVD player itself, and even the TV. But the buzz remained, and what was more, it was getting louder, and louder...

"That isn't the TV," Martha said slowly, and Clyde felt the blood drain from his face. "It sounds like..."

"Buzz!" Luke cried in apparent terror, pointing to the window. They hadn't drawn the curtains, and through the glass they could see a hovering, huge form against the black night sky. The oversized insect resembled a mosquito, and the stars could be seen winking through it's monsterous, transparent wings that were beating furiously. It was in the process of moving closer to and then further from the window, as though it were considering it...

A second before it happened, Clyde realised what it was about to do and snatched Luke up from the sofa. He dropped to the floor, grabbing Martha's wrist and pulling her down with them as he did so.

There was a colossal smash as the alien creature threw itself through the window, and Clyde felt shards of flying glass beat against his back. The buzzing intensified threatingly, and as Clyde struggled into a standing position, the glass tumbling off him, he dared to look.

It was horrific, and he didn't blame Martha for having to stiffle a shriek. Its bulbous, glittering black eyes reflected their terrified faces, and its wings were so large that they generated a draft that blew Sarah Jane's papers from the table.

"Upstairs!" Clyde roared, and took off, clutching Luke in a way that couldn't possibly be comfortable for him, but was at least secure. Martha followed closely behind, and so-unfortunately-did the creature.

As they thudded up the stairs, they could hear it knocking into and splintering the doorframe, and Martha let out a scream as it began to catch up with them.

"In here!" Clyde shouted when they reached the attic door, throwing it open and rushing inside. He held it open for Martha, then slammed it shut, putting his back against it. "Get a table to put in front of it or something!"

"Here!" Martha had located a heavy looking chest of drawers and shoved it over to the door to take the place of Clyde. Once it was firmly in place, they stood back, panting from exhaustion and fear.

"So that's what did that to Luke, I suppose," Martha said. Clyde, refusing to take his eyes off the door but afraid he would drop Luke if he held him much longer, lowered the toddler to the floor.

"But when Sarah Jane said parasite, I thought she meant small," he said. "I mean...it's a giant insect! A giant alien insect! You just don't expect a giant alien insect, I mean...what...that's some people's worst nightmare. Not mine, obviously. I...I don't have a problem with giant insects-"

This already unconvincing statement was totally shattered as there was a loud thump against the barricaded door, causing Clyde to emit a rather high-pitched squeal which he tried to turn into a cough.

"They aren't exactly my favourite thing," Martha said tremulously. She looked around frantically. "Are there any weapons in here?"

"What, like a huge fly swat or a giant can of bug-spray?" Clyde asked, regaining some of his usual self.

"I was thinking more like a gun."

"Probably not, Sarah Jane has a thing about those. But maybe, if she took it off someone," Clyde said, but he wasn't hopeful. "Mr Smith might know something we could do."

He called out the computer, and Martha, although battle-hardened, gave a start as the huge contraption loudly slid out of the wall.

"Nice to see you, Clyde, how can I be of ser-"

"Yes, we get it, you have good manners and stuff, just shut up and listen!" Clyde interrupted snappishly.

"Perhaps having manners is an idea you should entertain," Mr Smith replied coldly, but Clyde ignored him.

"That parasite-buggy-alien is outside," he said quickly. "It came back!"

"You cannot allow Luke to be exposed to it," Mr Smith replied urgently, and Clyde wrinkled his nose at the super-computer's obvious advice.

"Well, duh! None of us were really planning on inviting it inside for a tea-party!"

"Obviously it would be harmful to any one of you, as its bite would reduce you to a stage of early childhood. However, Luke has already been bitten once. They rarely bite one victim twice at one time, but this one will not recognize Luke as a previous victim. The bite is fatal to babies and the young, as it tries to take years that they do not have," Mr Smith explained grimly.

"What I don't get is how it got near Luke in the first place without being noticed," Clyde said with a frown. "Look at the size of it, how could it not be noticed?"

"They grow at a rapid rate," Mr Smith informed him. "It would have been much smaller. For every number of years it takes it adds them to itself. You see, the parasites are genetically modified so that when their limited amount of venom expires and they are no longer useful they die. Judging by the size of this one and the fact that Luke is a toddler and not a baby, as is the usual objective, it seems to have used up the last of its venom and is most likely nearing its natural end, most likely within the next few days."

"What do we do?" Martha asked, scooping Luke up protectively from the floor.

"Allow it entry, and I shall take care of it," Mr Smith said simply. Clyde's face dropped.

"Did I actually hear that? You want as to let it _in_?"

"My weapons system will destroy it, but I must warn you to take cover so as not to be exposed to any of the venom it uses. A small amount will not do so much damage, but it may take so many years off your life depending on the amount you are dealt."

"I wouldn't mind," Martha joked, then looked at Clyde. "You take Luke and hide, I'll let it inside."

"No, I'll do it," Clyde protested, but she shook her head.

"Sarah Jane left me to look after Luke, and I'll do it. I'm the adult, now take cover behind that sofa and don't come out until I say it's safe," she said firmly. The subject clearly wasn't up for discussion, and Clyde reluctantly obeyed, taking refuge behind the sofa with Luke.

Keeping a firm hold on Luke to prevent him from wandering out into danger, which was likely, he listened.

He heard Martha's footsteps crossing the room.

He heard her begin to heave the chest of drawers.

He heard it scrape accross the floor.

Unable to bear it, he dared to nervously peer around the edge of the sofa, just as the enormous creature crashed through the door (Martha had dived under a table). There was a whirr mixing with the familiar beating of wings as a gun appeared near Mr Smith's console, and Clyde quickly whipped back behind the sofa-

There was the sound of a laser being fired, and then a disgusting splatter. Clyde squeezed his eyes shut until there was only a steady dripping filling the silence, and when he opened his eyes and stood, a repulsive sight met his eyes.

The room was almost entirely coated in lurid green slime that dripped from every surface, even Mr Smith's screen. It was safe the say that the parasite had been well and truly obliterated.

"Ew," Luke offered when Clyde and Martha said nothing. Clyde shrugged.

"I've seen worse."

Martha crawled out gingerly from beneath the table, having escaped the gunge. She was careful not to touch a drop, and pulled a face at the sight.

"That's just..." she trailed off, apparently too disgusted to find words to describe it. "I didn't expect to be quite so explosive."

"I did," Clyde said gloomily. "Seriously, I might start carrying around an umbrella." He carefully navigated through the pools of slime until he stood looking out at the scene from the doorway. "Maybe if we work fast we could clear up before-"

"What on Earth happened?!"

They turned to see a shocked Sarah Jane standing behind them, staring into her wrecked attic through the remains of what had once been the door.

"...before Sarah Jane gets back," Clyde finished miserably, then launched into an explanation. "Look, Sarah Jane, I know you don't like shooting things and all of that, but there wasn't really a choice because that parasite came back and it was huge, like really big, and Mr Smith said he could shoot it so we hid behind a sofa and then it exploded!"

"Right," she said wearily. "Just a normal occurence in this house, then."

"Pretty much."

"I'll just go and get a mop."

"Yeah...oh, and don't touch the slime, there might be venom in it."

* * *

Martha stayed the night in the guest room as was planned (Sarah Jane had returned earlier than expected) and Clyde had to go home, which made for a useful excuse not to help clear up.

Once Sarah Jane had finally hit the mattress of her own bed it was way past midnight, and the second her head head sunk into the soft pillow, she fell into a deep but not easy sleep...

_She was in the TARDIS, not in the console room, but in one of its many corridors. She felt no wonder at it as she usually did, instead she felt a senseless urgency and fear._

_She was running through the maze of identical, twisting corridors, searching, searching..._

_And then she was calling out for what she was searching for, what she so desperately wanted to find._

_"Luke!" she shouted in a panic, hurtling around a corner. It was as though she had said a magic word, and as soon as she said it he was there, standing at the other end of the new corridor. He was as he was-a teenager, tall and slim with brown hair that was just getting slightly too long in the fringe for her liking, but was secretly fond of all the same. _

_Her heart swelled, and she realised she wanted to talk to him again, to hear him speak to her, really speak to her as he used to be able to do. He looked at her with those familiar eyes that were full of knowledge but not yet wise._

_"I've missed you," she said, feeling her throat constrict._

_"Why?" Luke asked, and tears burned in her eyes as she realised how muched she'd missed that voice, even the look of slight confusion that crossed his face. "I'm still there."_

_"I know, but...it doesn't feel like you," Sarah Jane said, hating herself as she finally voiced what had been eating away at her. "Not all of the time."_

_"But it is," he said in concern, walking over so he was closer to her. "I'm still the same person. The same personality, the same memories. It's still me."_

_"No," she said, feeling a tear slide down her face. "This is you."_

_"No," he said. "This isn't really me. You already know that though, don't you? There's only the new, real me now."_

_"I want the old you," she admitted in a trembling voice, feeling her insides churn with guilt at herself. "I want to be able to speak to you."_

_"You can," Luke said. "You just have to wait. I'm still there." Suddenly, he smiled a smile of pure elation. "And I get a childhood."_

_"You do," Sarah Jane said, and found herself copying his infectious smile. "What you always wanted."_

_"I get to grow up with you," he said, then frowned. She was still crying. "Don't you want me?"_

_"No!" she cried, grabbing his hands. "No, of course I do!"_

_"Then why are you crying?"_

_"Because I have to wait," she said. "I have to wait to speak to you again. And it's all so different...you aren't safe, what I do isn't safe for a child the age you are now. Today reminded me of that, I left you and you were in danger..."_

_"It was never safe," he said simply. "This is good. It's a new start."_

_"I can't do it on my own," she sobbed. "And I don't want to go back to being on my own."_

_"You aren't on your own. And if you look, you'll see that I'm really still there. I remember you, I remember everything. It gets blocked, but I'll fight it when I remember, and I'll beat it. The childhood state of mind is artifical and due to the creature's influence, so I can fight it."_

_"I've missed that," Sarah Jane sniffed, and when he looked utterly bewildered, she managed to laugh. "I've missed that look too."_

_"Look for me and you'll find me," he said, then pulled her into a hug that she didn't want to end. She hung onto him tightly, wishing she wouldn't have to let go. She could feel the dream fading as the reality grew stronger and her acknowledgement of it being a dream became more pronounced. She was still holding him, but she could no longer feel him, no longer believing he was really there..._

And then she was awake and very much alone. She stared up the ceiling, feeling the real tears on her face and listening to the cruel silence.

She sat up, her blankets falling off her, then got out of bed and walked quietly accross the bedroom floor. She reached the pitch black landing and crossed it slowly and softly so as not to wake Martha, and slipped into Luke's room.

When she reached his bed, he seemed to sense she was there, and woke. He looked up at her with worried blue eyes, and she realised there must still be tear stains on her face.

"Mum?" he asked anxiously, and she sat on the end of his little bed and hugged him to her.

"I'm fine," she said in what she hoped was a reassuring way. "I just had a dream, that's all. It was a good, bad dream."

And then, despite her aching heart, she saw it. His expression was the same one of puzzlement and curiosity that she had seen so many times before and minutes ago in the dream. With a small smile, she pushed his hair from his face.

"It really is still you, isn't it?" she said. "I've been stupid, haven't I?"

He looked even more confused, and she hugged him closer. Maybe she had been wrong.

Maybe a new start was good.

She knew that the Luke in the dream hadn't really told her anything she didn't already know deep down. Even the information he gave her she already knew from the Doctor, and she knew that her mind had just tweaked it to come out of Luke's mouth. But for some reason, she really felt like she'd spoken to him. And she would find that, over the next few days, she would go over what he had said and it would help her. Because real or not, what he had said was right.


	5. Chapter 5

# Little Luke 2.1 # **A/N** :* I own no one*

Sarah Jane glanced at the calender one day. It had been two weeks since the change and she realised that would have been Luke's fifteenth birthday (or rather third birthday ). It was ironic that he was now able to celebrate his real birthday age and not the age he appeared, though she would have to readjust her plans for celebration so it was more appropriate for a three year old. This was only his second birthday despite being "born" three years ago, and even then not so much born as activated at the age of thirteen. She had put the day she adopted him as his birthday, but the day they celebrated was a month later on the day he defeated Martin Trueman, an ordinary man who had been given extraordinary powers and had tried to control the world through everyone's star signs. Luke didn't have a star sign, which-while depressing as it was yet another odd thing about it-had been lucky, as it allowed him alone to be free of any control.

She wasn't sure what to do for a three year old's birthday. For his fourteenth birthday (which was his second really), she had taken him, Maria and Clyde to the arcade. This year she had planned on taking them bowling, but now she wasn't sure what to do.

When Rani and Clyde came over after school, Sarah Jane pulled them aside, telling them of her dilemma. They were more than willing to help her put together a party for Luke.

"Speaking of Luke, where is he?" Rani asked, looking around for the toddler. Usually when they came over he'd stop what he was doing or what he was playing with and run up to them, demanding hugs from "Wani" and swoops from "Tyde". Despite being smarter than the average toddler, he did mispronounce words.

"Staying with his aunt and uncle, " Sarah Jane explained simply.

"I thought you were an only child?" Rani said, confused.

"They're old friends of mine. They've met Luke before-more importantly, they know about aliens," Sarah Jane replied. Like Alistair and Liz, when Ian and Barbara (who were the Doctor's first companions) saw the new Luke they took it in stride. Sarah Jane was grateful for that-it was easy to explain Luke to them and not have them freak out or think she was crazy. They had kindly offered to take Luke off her hands every once in a while so she could have a much needed break. Now, she sat in her lounge with her son's two best friends trying to plan a toddler party.

"This is just mental, though. I mean, who are you going to _invite? _It's not like you can invite kids from school," Clyde said, bluntly but logically. However, Rani still hit him on the arm. Sarah Jane had thought about that. She had already planned to invite Martha (who sometimes babysat Luke) and Maria and Alan were flying in from America (Maria had told Alan about Luke). Also, Alistair and Liz were coming, as were Ian and Barbara. Harry promised to be there, and Mike Yates and his wife . Even Jack had wrangled an invite out of her, though he had to promise to leave his gun in his car and the flirting to a minimum. Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones also got invites and, of course, Rani and Clyde.

"What about kids Luke's age? Or sort of his age. Kind of. But almost. Oh, you know what I mean!" Rani scowled at Clyde, who was sniggering at her. "I will hit you again."

Sarah Jane sighed. Since Luke didn't go to play school they didn't know anyone Luke's age.

"I'll think of something," she said pathetically. No one in the neighbourhood even had young kids.

They spent the rest of the afternoon planning the party, and eventually they decided on the safe option to have it in the back garden.

"What about Rani's parents? " Clyde asked, who seemed more stressed than she was over the party and Luke's de-aging. Sarah Jane wasn't worried about Gita and Haresh. Earlier that week, she had gone to Torchwood and had asked Jack for some retcon. Later, she had invited them over for tea. That is, tea laced with retcon (she had told Rani what she planned and they both agreed it was the only way). After it had worked, Sarah Jane led them into the front lounge, introducing Luke. The retcon wiped their memory of any fourteen year old named Luke, and as far as they knew Luke was just your normal toddler.

* * *

On Saturday Sarah Jane woke up earlier than usual to get the house ready for the party, and two hours of hard work later she headed towards Luke's room, a little bit unsure of what she would find. Though the Doctor had told her the de-aging was irreversible she couldn't help but feel apprehensive every morning, not sure what would meet her eye. She was relieved to see that the toddler she had to put to bed last night was still a toddler.

In the middle of breakfast Rani came over. She was dressed in a short lilac dress, black lace capris and black flats. She carried a brightly wrapped package which she handed to Sarah Jane, before going over to Luke. He smiled when he saw her, his eyes lighting up.

"Wani, I three." He held up three fingers proudly."I have party, Mummy say."

Rani smiled as she lifted Luke out of the highchair. She poked her head in the front lounge where Sarah Jane was hanging up balloons.

"Sarah Jane, do you need any help?" she asked.

"If you could get Luke dressed that'd be a big help. The clothes are laid out on his bed,"Sarah Jane said. Rani nodded and reached for Luke's hand to take him upstairs. She had been in Luke's room before, even after the change, but she had never had a proper look. The white curtains were replaced with dark blue curtains with stars and moons on them, there was a child's bed with another space themed quilt (it was funny that some things about Luke didn't change) with several stuffed animals on it. She spotted the clothes-a light green t-shirt, overalls, socks and trainers.

As Rani was tying Luke's shoes, a car door opened and closed outside, signalling the arrival of a guest. Luke ran over to the toybox and started pulling out toys, as though he had waited until the most unconvinient moment.

"Luke, don't you want to go downstairs for your party?" Rani asked.

"No, I play," Luke said firmly. Rani sat down next to him.

"But you were so excited, and everyone's going to be there." He still showed no interest. "You know, they're bringing gifts." These last words had the desired effect, and Luke's head snapped up.

"Toys?" he asked hopefully.

Rani laughed. "Yes, they might bring loads of toys, but we have to go down to your party before you get them." Luke jumped up.

"I want toys."

Rani stood up, and with Luke pulling her along they headed downstairs.

* * *

The party was going better than Sarah Jane hoped. There had been a few minor incidents, like the cake nearly crashing to the grass when Luke tried to pull the table cloth to get a better look. Luckily, Ianto (who was both very good with children and very sharp when it came to spotting an oncoming disaster) pulled him away in time, and Barbara led him to another part of the garden.

Unsurprisingly, Jack did flirt quite a bit , but Sarah Jane just tried to keep out of his way. However, she couldn't avoid him forever, and he managed to give her a wink as she passed by, carrying out a platter of sausage rolls. Poor Alan was also taking refuge from Jack, and remained hidden in the kitchen for most of the party.

As Sarah Jane was getting some more lemonade, Barbara came into the kitchen (Maria had dragged Alan back outside by force).

"Sarah Jane, this is a lovely party," she said, picking up a spoon to stir the fruit salad.

"Well, I had help from Rani and Clyde. You know, I've never done a birthday for a toddler before, "Sarah Jane admitted. She looked out the window, and saw that Luke was sitting between Clyde and Rani on the picnic bench. He seemed to be enjoying himself, and was particularly excited over the presents and cake, which he kept trying to reach.

Before the cake was pulled down by Luke and came to a messy, untimely end, Sarah Jane picked it up and took it to the patio, placing it on the picnic table. After hastily blowing out the candles, Luke attacked his slice ferociously.

"It's good," Jack informed Sarah Jane, holding his own plate of birthday cake. He gave her a dazzling grin, and she got the impression of a fisherman reeling in his prize. "You're quite the chef."

"Actually, I'm rubbish," she said. "Clyde practically made the whole thing."

"Practically?"

"I turned the oven on."

This was one woman Captain Jack Harkness was not going to catch, and he seemed to realise it. With another grin, he went off after Alan, who was standing unsuspectingly by the buffet table. Luckily for him, Ianto intercepted Jack with the offer or more cake, which would keep him occupied for a while.

Rani was hiding under a table (they were playing hide and seek with Luke), Gwen Cooper was behind a chair and Clyde was submerged in a hedge. Maria was helping Luke, and everyone seemed to be having fun. It really was a success.

Later, after everyone had gone home, the mess had been cleaned up and Luke was tucked up in bed, Sarah Jane stood in his doorway watching him sleep. He had initially insisted on taking all his new toys to bed, and she had had to convince him to just take two new stuffed animals. With the door closed only partway, she went gratefully down the stairs into the quiet, where she would enjoy a nice cup of tea and a good book.


End file.
